Good Country People
“Woman, Do You Ever Look Inside?”
There are many themes within Flannery O’Connor’s short story “Good Country People”. Religion is definitely one of the more prominent themes that the story holds. Like most of O’Connor’s works, it plays a big part in the actions or characteristics of the main characters. This is all on the surface however. The more important and less accentuated theme is the various facades the characters create for themselves. These facades prevent them from facing their true “grotesque” selves. These facades also hide their weaknesses that they have no wish to face ort just can’t understand. People must be comfortable with every aspect of themselves, because certain people, who in this story are represented by Manley Pointer’s character, can easily exploit their weaknesses. He’s “good country people” and “the salt of the earth” as Mrs. Hopewell refers to Manley Pointer who really is a demon that they must face. A demon to remind them of their weaknesses.
Beginning with Mrs. Hopewell, the title of the story comes from what she likes to call the poorer and less fortunate people that live off the land and work their whole lives just to hang on to some scrap of a life. This is how she views these people. She believes that they are good country people not a bad seed among them, that they are all eager to help out and bow in humility to the upper class. The gullible nature of Mrs. Hopewell betrays her true vision of a situation. She is one of those people who are all goody-goody to people who they view as less fortunate. She’s a person that commends or speaks for the people she knows nothing about. Altogether this is her true weakness that is taken advantage of by Manley Pointer. One of ...
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...of a minor character in the story but she is referred to as having two emotions, “forward and reverse”. This is important because when a person is forced to go in reverse they must face something or learn something they don’t want to know about themselves. This seems to be what happens during the course of the story for Joy-Hulga. Although all the characters in the story are stuck in reverse, the only character that is forced to realize her weakness, which destroys the façade that she created is Joy-Hulga. It seems that in this story as in life the most high and mighty suffers the greatest fall. Joy-Hulga was the one who perceived herself to be the high and mighty of the characters. This attitude is displayed with many of her comment to Mrs. Hopewell. Perhaps when Joy-Hulga remarks to Mrs. Hopewell, “Woman, do you ever look inside?” she should’ve taken her own advice.
In "Good Country People," Flannery O'Connor skillfully presents a story from a third-person point of view, in which the protagonist, Joy-Hulga, believes that she is not one of those good country people. Joy is an intelligent and educated but emotionally troubled young woman, struggling to live in a farm environment deep in the countryside of the southeast United States, where she feels that she does not belong. Considering herself intellectually superior to the story's other characters, she experiences an epiphany that may lead her to reconsider her assumptions. Her experience marks a personal transition for her and constitutes the story's theme--the passage from naïveté to knowledge.
Hopewell’s daughter, Joy who renames herself to Hulga. Hulga who is also like Phoenix, a victim of circumstances, is highly educated, was shot in the leg while young, and thus has a wooden leg and is also sick in that she has a weak heart. Hulga, goes through these circumstances and takes them negatively, she is seen as not only rude but also always cross and insensitive to other people’s feelings or emotions an example of this is when she shouted at her mother, Mrs. Hopewell, at the table “Woman! Do you ever look inside? Do you ever look inside and see what you are not? God!” (Clugston,
The story “Good Country People”, by Flannery O’Conner is a work that uses characterization in a new and interesting way to help shape and present the characters of this story. One of the main characters is Hulga Hopewell, also known as Joy Hopewell. This characters name plays a very ironic role in the story. Through the use of such a peculiar name O’Conner helps to develop and build the characteristics of Hulga. In the story “Good Country People” the use of the name Hulga (Joy) Hopewell helps to further build upon the characterization of Hulga and give the reader a deeper understanding of the character.
Joy/Hulga has two items that are used alternately to describe her, the eyeglasses that counter her weak eyes and are a sign of her intellectuality, and the wooden leg that she wields through sound and appearance as a weapon against her mother’s solicitude. When Manley Pointer removes her glasses and steals her wooden leg, she is left totally weak and vulnerable. The Bible salesman himself uses the illusion of Bibles as a symbol. He has claimed to have a suitcase full of Bibles to sell, but his moral laxness is revealed when he opens the case to reveal two Bibles, one of which has a hidden
When looking into works of literature, some stories seem to be similar to others. They can have a similar setting, point of view, theme, or sense of language and style. However, all of these points could be very different as well and could cover different theme or style. Flannery O’Conner’s “Good Country People” and Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” have some contrasting elements, such as their points of view and use of symbolism, but their similarities in the underlying theme, language, and the setting of these stories reveal how these two stories are impacted by education on both the individual and their family.
...ated and had a Ph.D. in Philosophy. She could not call her daughter a schoolteacher, a nurse, or a chemical engineer and that bothered her. These people and episodes in Joy's life made her a very miserable person. They made her hate all that surrounded her, which included flowers, animals, and young men. This is why Joy changes her name to Hulga when she was twenty-one years old. She believed the name represented her as an individual. The name was fierce, strong, and determined just like her. The name reminded her of the broad, blank hull of a battleship. Joy felt the name reflected her inside and out. It separated her from the people who surrounded her that she hated the most.
The character that is mentioned most in this story is one by the name of Mrs.
In “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor, O’Connor uses many different types of symbolism. The symbolism that is used in each of the characters’ names not only gives another layer to the literal descriptions that can be found throughout the story, but it also tells the reader about the characters. O’Connor uses the characters’ names as a way of showing the personality of each character, while also giving the reader insight to help them to understand the plot of the story. Mrs. Freeman, Mrs. Hopewell, Hulga (Joy), and Manley Pointer are more then just names; they help the reader understand the message that O’Connor in trying to portray.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the main character, “Scout” learns that there are two types of underprivileged people in this world. The first type of poor people are those such as the Cunningham’s, who are so humble, that they manage live with the very little that they have. The next types of poor people are those such as the Ewells, who are a load of filthy, drunkyards. This family takes everything for granted, without the least bit of appreciation. These two families are examples of the poor people in this world.
In the story “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor, the readers are told a story of unrequited love between two adults. The story begins with a pair of mothers talking about their children, more specifically their daughters and their accomplishments. One of the mothers, Mrs. Freeman, talks about how one of her daughters is now married and expecting a child and her other daughter is doing her own thing in the world. The other mother, Mrs. Hopewell, talks about her only daughter, Joy and how she does considering the fact that she has a wooden leg. The story then moves over to Joy who now chooses to go by Hulga because she believes it will make her more unappealing to people. Hulga meets a bible salesman named Manley Pointer, who uses his
“We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation (“Judge Quotes” 1).” In the book, Good Country People, the author, Flannery O'Connor, uses the text to relay the message that people should never judge a book by its’ cover. This is evident through Mrs. Freeman, Hulga, and Manley Pointer. Mrs. Freeman misjudged Manley as a good country person based on that he sold bibles for a living. Hulga has a reputation of a well educated women. This is proved wrong once she meets Manley Pointer. Manley seems like a good, young man selling bibles for a living, but after Hulga’s date with him, everyone is proven wrong.
The short story, Good Country People is a prime example of an age old battle: Good versus Evil. The story begins with a description of one of the four main characters, Mrs. Freeman, the wife of the hired man who came under the employment of Mrs. Hopewell. Although Mrs. Freeman spends a great
In “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Conner, education, religion, and physical attributes play a major role in forming ones’ identity. “Good Country People” is a fairly complex story of life presented as a simple tale about good country people. Religion being one of the most prominent beliefs playing contradictory roles in the main characters of the story, however, the important part is the false impressions Hulga and Manley Pointer have created for themselves. Education and religion show both positive and negative throughout the story, the author shows the differences in the characters and how much education plays factor in the two main characters’ lives, and that religion is not always used for good. Those two points by themselves are very
Flannery O’Conner’s “Good Country People” is a short story told through the analysis of the interactions between the four main characters: Hulga (Joy), Manley Pointer, Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman. All four characters have distinct feelings about one another and have different levels of complexity. Out of all the main characters Hulga and Manley Pointer have the deepest level of complexity and are the ones with the most obvious fronts.
Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People" is a story told through the examination of the relationships between the four main characters. All of the characters have distinct feelings about the others, from misunderstanding to contempt. Both Joy-Hulga, the protagonist, and Manley Pointer, the antagonist, are multi-faceted characters. While all of the characters have different levels of complexity, Joy-Hulga and Manley Pointer are the deepest and the ones with the most obvious facades.